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Thursday, June 28, 2012

Things have been pretty quiet on the blog in the last week because I was in California at ALA Anaheim last weekend - the American Library Association's Annual Conference & Exhibition. I was excited when I found out it was going to be in Southern California because I could combine it with a visit to my parents after the school year ended.

Being a teacher, one of the valuable benefits of being a member of a professional organization and being able to attend teacher/librarian professional association conferences/conventions, beyond attending sessions to learn more about aspects of my profession, is visiting the exhibit hall and talking to publishers about what books they have coming out that might work for my students to bring into my classroom. Sometimes I go in with specific genres/topics in mind where I'm trying to find titles to fit certain units we're planning. Sometimes there are some titles I'm just really looking forward to reading and want to be able to read and share with my students, other teachers and librarians, and on the blog. Sometimes I come across titles I hadn't heard of yet, but by seeing it/hearing about it from the publisher reps, I learn about books that could be great for others to know about too that I might not have found any other way. All times I feel very lucky if they're offered to me at no extra cost (usually the ARCs), but many times they're books for purchase (especially if it's an author signing) at a discounted cost from other ways of purchasing (I still easily spent a couple hundred dollars on books over the course of 2 1/2 days). This was an excellent chance to increase my knowledge of what the current titles for fall/winter are as well as a way to help enhance my teaching through getting books I can share with my students. There were also lots of authors there that I was able to get signed books from and talk to about what my students think of their books and how I use them in the classroom, which always seems to be something they enjoy hearing about. And, extra bonus, I bought books to get personally signed by the authors for my nieces and nephew for their Christmas presents, too (part of the reason my picture book list is so long).

In light of all of that, I like to do a post after attending a conference so others, who weren't able to attend, can see what books are new or upcoming that may be ones they'd want to know about also. At this conference, I got a bunch of young adult titles, lots of middle grades titles (fantasy seems to be the big genre trend right now!), and some awesome picture books that I can't wait to use with my students! I didn't pick up everything I saw (there was so much and it doesn't all fit what I'm looking for), but if it was a title I'd heard of that was already on my to-read list, or the summary sounded good or like it would interest my students, I would decide if I wanted to carry it. If you want to know any more about a particular title that sounds interesting to you, just let me know! :)
*I'm not doing pictures this time because many of the titles were already sent out on loan to my twitter teacher and librarian friends who weren't able to make it this year. The whole list is here on goodreads if you'd rather (you can also see which ones I've already read and rated).

Mia Price is a lightning
addict. She’s survived countless strikes, but her craving to connect to
the energy in storms endangers her life and the lives of those around
her.

Los Angeles, where lightning rarely strikes, is one of the
few places Mia feels safe from her addiction. But when an earthquake
devastates the city, her haven is transformed into a minefield of chaos
and danger. The beaches become massive tent cities. Downtown is a
crumbling wasteland, where a traveling party moves to a different empty
building each night, the revelers drawn to the destruction by a force
they cannot deny. Two warring cults rise to power, and both see Mia as
the key to their opposing doomsday prophecies. They believe she has a
connection to the freak electrical storm that caused the quake, and to
the far more devastating storm that is yet to come.

Mia wants to
trust the enigmatic and alluring Jeremy when he promises to protect her,
but she fears he isn’t who he claims to be. In the end, the passion and
power that brought them together could be their downfall. When the
final disaster strikes, Mia must risk unleashing the full horror of her
strength to save the people she loves, or lose everything.

STRUCK is one of Macmillan's Fierce Reads for this summer and I can see why as it is a fast-paced, suspenseful novel full of action, heart, a little bit of mystical magic, and heat. It takes place over a four day period of time in a Los Angeles that has been destroyed by an earthquake. Mia is a tortured character dealing with trying to keep her little family together and the aftereffects of the multiple lightning strikes she has suffered. She is the key cog in a wheel of good vs. bad and the people who are trying to save/destroy the world, and both sides are trying to recruit/control her. So that all sounds really big, but at its heart, this is the story of a girl just trying to figure out how to keep herself together and to choose/make her own destiny.

Jennifer Bosworth has written an engaging story that takes on issues of religion, beliefs, family loyalty, and finding one's own path...and looks at what choices one would make to keep oneself together. She has written STRUCK in a way that keeps the action moving and the pacing made me want to keep reading and turning pages to find out what would happen next. The characters were drawn in a way that made me want to help them, and I wanted things to work out for them. She has also built a world that looks at what people would do and which direction they would turn to comfort themselves after a devastating natural disaster. In the midst of all of this, Mia meets Jeremy who she's not quite sure about in the beginning, and who is a positive male character even if he is tortured himself. Although I did predict a few of the reveals toward the end, I still really enjoyed reading my way to them. I look forward to seeing what Jennifer Bosworth will come out with next!

Thursday, June 14, 2012

My fabulous teacher friend, Sarah, at Y.A. Love Blog does a Book Trailer Thursday feature every week to help introduce her students to new books coming out. Now, I'm not doing it every week with her, but this week I'm so excited about the beautiful trailer for THE RAVEN BOYS by Maggie Stiefvater (one of my favorite authors-I would read anything she writes), from her new (four book!) series coming out this fall, that I had to join in the Book Trailer Thursday fun.

Monday, June 11, 2012

Perhaps you've seen/heard the buzz on twitter (where, I've found, most awesome ideas begin with a 140 character spark). Perhaps a friend encouraged you to visit. Perhaps you're just coming across this and think it sounds fun. No matter how you found us, we'd love for you to join in! (No twitter account or blog required-just an enthusiasm for reading with students!)

The event: #summerthrowdown Librarians vs. Teachers

The purpose: To support, encourage, and celebrate reading and librarians and teachers. To network with other teachers and librarians on twitter to grow our PLNs. To enjoy a friendly challenge to keep us motivated to read as much as possible this summer. To hold ourselves accountable because we'll have to tell someone how much we're reading.

The timeframe: June 18 - July 17~ Majority of the book finished within these dates.
This means that if you start a book before the competition begins, that book still counts so long as you had less than half of the book finished before June 18th. If you start a book during the timeframe but don't finish it before July 17th, it doesn't count, no matter how much you have finished. So, no waiting to finish the last pages of a book until the 18th (nice try, though!), but go ahead and get started on one, it'll still count. We don't want to interrupt anyone's reading flow/pace here. (Hey, we're middle school teachers, we're trained to think in ways students would to get around rules.)

The guidelines: Every book you read counts as a book read!
We all have different specialties and are reading books to prepare us to teach/work with different levels of students. All of this reading is valuable. If you're reading picture books to prepare to teach Pre-K (or for use with any level students for that matter), that's as important as someone reading 400+ page tomes to prepare to teach AP English. Or if you just like that sort of thing. ALL READING IS VALUABLE. But because we ought to find some way to keep this on a level playing field, there are some handicaps in place for the scoring
~Any format of books read counts for this (novel, picture book, graphic novel, etc.)
~Any way you read counts (by yourself, audiobook, reading to a child, etc.)
~Books under 50 pages count as 1/4
~Books between 50-150 pages count as 1/2
~Books over 150 pages count as 1

The main rule-KIPP: Keep It Positive, Please! This is all in the mode of encouraging reading and we want to be positive role models for our students. All-in-fun trash-talking is fine (and, essentially encouraged if Brian & I are any example), but please keep it in the spirit of the purpose of this reading event! Thanks so much! :)

The winner(s): EVERYONE because we're all going to be reading more (we hope) and growing our community/network of teachers and librarians on twitter and beyond. But the group (Librarians or Teachers) that reads more, determined by a collective total figured into books/person, does get the bragging rights.

No one loses when everyone reads!

The people behind the curtain: Brian (@brianwyzlic) and I (@heisereads) [teachers] first started the friendly #teacherthrowdown and Kathy (@thebrainlair) and Sherry (@LibraryFanatic) [librarians] ran with a summer version teachers vs. librarians idea. If you have any questions, feel free to ask any of us (you can easily find us all on twitter)!

The history: aka: So what is this #throwdown thing anyway? Brian and I started this as an offshoot from a reading motivator #throwdown we did with our Sister Classroom Project this year. If you want to know more about it, I explained it here and Brian talked about it here.

To
log the books you've read, open up the Google Spreadsheet, and make sure
you're on the correct sheet (you can toggle between teachers and
librarians at the bottom of the page). Add your name and Twitter handle
(if you have one -- definitely not a requirement), and then every day
you finish a book, update the appropriate column in your row with the
number of books you have finished (or every few days if you're like Jillian and tend to forget-just keep a record for yourself!). Your total will automatically update
at the end of your row. Please total everything you read that day. So if
you finished a 150+ page book and 2 32-page picture books on the same
day, that would be 1 + 1/4 + 1/4 = 1.5. So you'd type 1.5 into the cell
for that day, and your total will automatically update.

It should go without saying, but please BE HONEST, and NO UPDATING ANYONE ELSE'S BOOKS (unless they have asked you to do so).

The buttons: Copy a button to your blog/twitter/electronic method of choice to show your affiliation and declare it on twitter:

Sunday, June 10, 2012

Title: FROM WHAT I REMEMBER...
Author: Stacy Kramer & Valerie Thomas
Publisher: Disney Hyperion
Release Date: May 15, 2012
Number of Pages: 462
Source of Book: Bought the hardcover on the recommendation of Jen (@mentortexts)

KYLIE: Tijuana WHAT? I
should be putting the finishing touches on my valedictorian speech.
Graduation is TODAY, and is this a wedding band on my finger.

MAX:
It all started with Kylie's laptop and a truck full of stolen
electronics. Okay, it was kind of hot, the way she broke us out like
some chick in an action movie. But now we're stranded in Tijuana. With
less than twenty-four hours before graduation. Awesome.

WILL:
Saving Kylie Flores from herself is kind of a full-time occupation.
Luckily, I, Will Bixby, was born for the job. And when I found out she
was stuck in Mexico with dreamy Max Langston, sure, I agreed to bring
their passports across the border -- but there's no reason to rush back
home right away. This party is just getting started.

LILY: I
just walked in on my boyfriend, Max Langston, canoodling with Kylie
Flores, freak of the century. Still, I can't completely hold it against
him. He NEEDS me. It's even clearer now. And I'm not giving him up
without a fight.

FROM WHAT I REMEMBER... is a mash-up of a John Hughes movie and The Hangover. I really enjoyed it, and I'm sure pretty much everyone of my generation that grew up with these types of high school drama movies will too; I'm just not sure how it will connect with this generation of teen readers.

I liked so much about this book, and really enjoyed reading the story told from multiple perspectives, but there one quirk that made it a little tough for me to get into right away was all the pop culture references which could date it too quickly, but after about 100 pages, that changed and then I was so hooked that I didn't want to stop reading. The characters I was supposed to dislike, I did. The characters I was supposed to like, I did. The characters I was supposed to change my mind about, I did. The characters I was supposed to cheer on, I did. The characters who were supposed to surprise me...well, that's where things didn't go quite that way for me with all of them. I did feel that it was a little predictable in some ways, but in other ways was unpredictable. However, it could just be that I'm getting really good at reading those foreshadowing clues, or they were pretty obvious because of the idea and style of the story, but either way, it was still fun to read. Basically, FROM WHAT I REMEMBER... is pretty much a takeoff on teen movies, but it doesn't take itself too seriously. I mean, any book that begins each chapter with a quote from a movie, which proceeds to be the lesson for that chapter, is pretty open about telling you that it's going to follow a pretty standard movie-like story arc.

The multiple voices telling the story made it that much more interesting and entertaining, and for the most part, each voice was pretty distinct in its tone. Max and Kylie are the big stars of this book, though, and I felt for them and enjoyed their discoveries. Their one night in Mexico was so sweet with all of their conversations and opening up that it made me root for them to figure it all out and be there for each other. That being said, there were a few secondary storylines that I've not seen so often and were a pleasant surprise to me. Namely, Will as the out gay best friend, who is still working through some issues and actually trying to find himself (which may not be as he appears to show it in the beginning), and Jake, the little brother with Asperger's. I actually felt that Jake's few chapters, when we saw into his mind and thinking, were some of the strongest of the whole book.

I cheered for Kylie's graduation speech at the end (and wanted to snag some takeaway quotes for my classroom walls), and rooted for everything to turn out as it did. FROM WHAT I REMEMBER... is an enjoyable ride of a story. It has some mature scenes that make it not so much a younger middle school book, but I'd be interested to hear what some older teen readers think of it. I would pair it with DITCHED: A LOVE STORY by Robin Mellom, which it, in fact, reminded me of quite a bit, and at the end found a sneak peek for in this book, so I'm not the only one thinking they'd be a good fit!

FROM WHAT I REMEMBER... would make a great beach/summer read. I'd love to hear your thoughts if you read/have read this one!

Friday, June 8, 2012

Donalyn Miller (aka The Book Whisperer and All-Around Awesome Person) started the #bookaday hashtag on twitter and it's now in its fourth year (the "rules" are there). It was a way for teachers to challenge themselves to read as much as possible during the summer to increase their knowledge for the following school year, and to network about what they're reading. Although I've casually tried to read as many books as possible for my students during the summers, I have yet to formally participate in the #bookaday challenge.

That all changes now (well, actually, Tuesday, but I'm posting early). This will be my first year officially participating in Summer Book-a-Day; however, since I've found that I tend to be better about meeting goals if I write them down and share them, I'm publicly proclaiming my summer #bookaday goals right here, right now.

My personal #bookaday challenge will run from June 12th-August 26th, so my goal will be 76 books this summer. I don't know if I'll make it, but it sure will be fun trying! Will you be joining us this summer?

Noelle's
life is all about survival. Even her best friend doesn't know how much
she gets bullied, or the ways her mom neglects her. Noelle's kept so
much about her life a secret for so long that when her longtime crush
Julian Porter starts paying attention to her, she's terrified. Surely
it's safer to stay hidden than to risk the pain of a broken heart. But
when the antagonism of her classmates takes a dramatic turn, Noelle
realizes it's time to stand up for herself--and for the love that keeps
her holding on.

Susane Colasanti consistently writes contemporary romance novels that are engaging for teens while still dealing with the ins and outs of high school drama and difficulties. With KEEP HOLDING ON, she's gone one step further. This book introduces us to Noelle who does not have a good home life and does not have a good school life. Noelle is bullied and it makes her day-to-day life in high school a hope-to-get-through-it experience. She seriously lacks self-esteem because of the neglect of her mother and the bullying of her classmates, so even if one is reaching out to her, she can't see it. She lets herself get into toxic relationships because she doesn't think enough of herself, and she avoids other relationships and situations that could be good for her because of her fear that it will increase what she has to deal with on a daily basis.

As a teacher, it is heart-breaking to read the things she has to put up with. As a former teen, it seems all too familiar. Things may be different now with the extent of what kids will do to each other and the age at which it starts, but it still resonates with me having been there myself. My own (or any reader's) situations may not be exactly like Noelle's, but too much of it seems hauntingly familiar. Susane Colasanti has written the story of what too many girls have to go through on a daily basis in high school in a real and honest voice. What they have to be afraid of, what they hope to avoid, how they deal with it. But Noelle's discovery of her own voice and value leaves the reader with a sense of hope.

I appreciated how this book was written as a countdown. Each chapter starts with the date and how many days are left in the school year. It gives it a sense of urgency and nervousness as to whether we will get to the end or not. Also, the way in which it sometimes jumps from one scene to the next makes it feel almost as if we're watching snapshots of the life that Noelle is having to live. It's a short-ish book and written in an easily accessible way, which is what it needs to be for this topic. One of the strongest parts of this book are the cast of supporting characters who actually do help make things better for Noelle. There are individuals out there who are looking out for these kids: teachers, social workers, friends, guys, and girls who want to help them through it. We need to start celebrating these people more in the lives of those who are subjected to the bullying that happens to them in school.

The book ends with a message from Noelle to all of those who have felt like they are outsiders or have no hope. It leaves with a message of hope. Then, Susane tells her story and provides the reader with names and information on many organizations that are out there to help them through. A powerful note to include in a book such as this that may open a teen's eyes to something they didn't realize before - that they can reach out and ask for help, and that they should.

Although it does contain a few mature scenes, I would share it with older middle schoolers, and I definitely think it should be in every high school classroom for teens to read.

welcome!

Hi! I'm Jillian Heise (pronounced Hi-Z). I'm a K-5 Library Media Teacher in southeastern Wisconsin. I previously taught 7th & 8th grade ELA in the Milwaukee area for eleven years & am National Board Certified. I am a passionate advocate for student choice in reading and the power of shared stories through #classroombookaday picture book read alouds. I also bring my literacy expertise and knowledge of books to my role as Chair of the WSRA Children’s Literature Committee.

In accordance with FTC regulations, this policy is valid from 1 August 2010. This blog is a personal blog written and edited by Jillian Heise. At times, I receive books for free from publishers or authors in exchange for an honest review. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely my own and I am not compensated for opinions or reviews.